Suchergebnisse

Background Evidence is accumulating on the impact of the recent economic crisis on health and health systems across Europe. However, little is known about the effect this is having on physicians - a crucial resource for the delivery of healthcare services. This paper explores the adaptation to the crisis of public sector physicians and their ability to keep performing their functions, with the objective of gaining a better understanding of health workers' resilience under deteriorating conditions. Methods We conducted a survey among 484 public primary care and hospital physicians in Portugal's capital city area and explored their perceptions of the crisis, adaptation and coping strategies. We used ordinal and logistic regression models to link changes in hours worked and intentions to migrate with physicians' characteristics and specific answers. Results We found little evidence of physicians changing their overall allocation of working time before and after the crisis, with their age, types of specialisation, valuation of job flexibility and independence significantly associated with changes in public sector hours between 2010 and 2015. Being divorced, not Portuguese, of younger age, and working a high number of hours per week, were found to increase the probability of physicians considering migration, the same as having a poor opinion of recent government health policies. On the other hand, enjoying their current working environment, not wanting to disrupt provision of service, and leisure time were found to protect against scaling down public sector hours or considering migration. Conclusions Our work on Portuguese physicians contributes to the debate on health workers' resilience, showing the value of understanding the influence of personal characteristics and opinions on their adaptation to changing circumstances, before designing policies to improve their working conditions and retention. ; publishersversion ; published

The main research goal in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is the development of new therapeutic approaches capable of slowing down the progression to end-stage renal disease. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effects of long-term administration of chaetomellic acid A (CAA), which selectively blocks H-Ras farnesylation, on chronic kidney lesions in 5/6 nephrectomized Wistar rats, an animal model of chronic renal disease. Materials and Methods: Sixty male Wistar rats were sham-operated (SO) or submitted to 5/6 nephrectomy (RMR). One week after surgery, surviving animals were distributed into four groups: SO–SO rats receiving no treatment (n = 13); SO+CAA–SO rats receiving CAA treatment (n = 13); RMR–RMR rats receiving no treatment (n = 14); RMR+CAA–RMR rats receiving CAA treatment (n = 13). CAA was administered intraperitoneally three times a week for 6 months. Renal fibrosis was evaluated by ultrasonography and histopathological analysis. All experimental procedures followed the European (European Directive 2010/63/EU) and National (Decree-Law 113/2013) legislation on the protection of the animals used for scientific purposes. Results: The kidneys of the RMR animals treated with CAA showed a significant decrease in medullary echogenicity (P <0.05) compared with the RMR rats that received no treatment. Glomerulosclerosis and arteriolosclerosis scores were significantly lower (P <0.001) in the RMR+CAA group when compared with the RMR group. Conclusion: These data suggest that pharmacological inhibition of H-Ras proteins activation may be a future strategy in the prevention of end-stage renal disease. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion